Coming Together in Prayer

Prayer, for me, is an important part of faith and an interesting part.  There are many ways to pray.  Each of us, I imagine, have a different way of praying and connecting to God.  I have found myself praying in a variety of ways.  There are times when I need to be alone with God, a time where I can connect with God in a deeply personal way with no one else around.  And other times I am praying with a group where we gather to pray for one another and lift up to God the things that are important at that moment.  Both have value.  In fact, any way you pray has value.  It is not how you pray that is important, the important part is that you are praying.  It is in prayer that we connect with God. 

In the gospels of Matthew and Luke, Jesus teaches us how to pray with the Lord’s Prayer.  In 1 Thessalonians 15:1 we are told to pray without ceasing.  In Hebrews 4:16 we are told to pray with confidence, “to approach the throne of grace with boldness.”  In James 5:16 we hear the power of prayer when we pray for one another. 

Asking for prayers can be hard.  When we ask for prayer we are not showing a sign of weakness.  Instead, we are showing trust in those who we worship with, and confidence in the power of communal prayer.  When my 3^rd son was born we quickly learned he has a complex vascular system in his neck and head.  He had his first of many MRI/MRA at six weeks old.  We had no idea how his body would handle the twisted vessels in his neck and head.  The first thing I did was reach out to the prayer chain at church.  And as friends in the community learned about his condition, their church began praying for him.  He was on the St. Mark prayer chain for several weeks.  I can’t tell you how important that was for me and my family knowing so many people were praying for my son and our family.  Thankfully his body has compensated for the twisted vessels and they have not been an issue.

As you pray, I encourage you to pray for one another.  I encourage you to pray in a way that works for you.  If you are at a loss for words, remember you can pray as Jesus taught with the Lord’s prayer.  Don’t hesitate to ask for prayers, there is power in prayer when we pray for one another. 

Yours in Christ, 

Pastor Katrina Steingraeber

 

Using the Whole Pumpkin

One of my favorite restaurants here in Rockford comes up with a brand new dinner menu almost every weekend. They center everything— appetizers, main dishes, desserts and cocktails— around a common theme, depending on what is in season or what holidays are nearby. I’m told that this week the theme is “Eat Our Decorations,” and it came about in a moment of desperation. Simply put, the cooks in their kitchen were struggling for ideas, and as they took down all their festive Halloween decor, inspiration struck. All those pumpkins, gourds, and squash— every edible bit of decor is getting a second life this weekend as soups, pies, and other dishes. While I am sure they will be supplementing with additional veggies from traditional sources, there is something marvelous about how clever this little restaurant is with the resources they have.

That sort of cleverness can carry us further than we can imagine. I’ve seen it in the way farmers in Tanzania rework scrap metal into essential tools. Students experience it whenever their teachers stretch their supplies to last a whole school year. Resourceful people throughout time have discovered ways to use the whole buffalo, live with little waste, and use whatever they have, until what they have can no longer be used. 

This may sound like a philosophy of scarcity, but one doesn’t have to be scraping by in order to discover useful resources in unexpected places. If anything, this is a mindset abundance. When we pay enough attention, we can see how truly blessed we are, with goodness in every corner of our lives.

How can we use this kind of clever, abundant thinking in order to tend to what God has given us? When I think about that restaurant’s repurposed pumpkins, I wonder what aspects of our church can have that same sort of renewed purpose. What do we already have that we can use to help our community grow in faith? What ministries can be given new life to share God’s grace in a changing world?

During this season of stewardship, many of us are evaluating how we can support St. Mark in the coming year, both financially and through gifts of service. What do you have that you can share with others? Let’s pay attention to the pumpkins in our lives as we continue to find new and clever ways to use all that God has given us to share God’s love with one another and the world. We have everything we need, and that includes you.

Peace,

Pastor Chad McKenna